No Greater Love…
One summer when I was about 10 years old I was enjoying the hot summer days on my grandparents farm in East Texas. I would spend my days doing mostly farm stuff. One of my favorite activities was riding around in the pastures on my Uncle Eddie’s little red Honda three wheeler. It was so much fun being able to explore and go almost anywhere on that little red Honda. The only problem was that the Honda sometimes wouldn’t start. My uncle showed me how to remedy that by pulling the spark plug and spraying it with a little starter fluid.
One day when it wouldn’t start I grabbed a socket wrench and moved the plug. I sprayed it like I normally did and replaced the plug. Unfortunately this time I noticed the spark plug wouldn’t go back as easily as it would before. So I tried to force it in. YIKES! I now know that you should NEVER do that with a spark plug because I ended up stripping the threads in the block of the engine. I was devastated and worried what my uncle would say. I didn’t know what to do. So, I went inside to get my grandad and told him what happened. He immediately knew what happened and told me, “Son, that was a bad mistake… go get in the truck.”
I was worried. Was my grandad going to be angry with me as well? Why were we getting in the truck? Is he sending me home or something?
That afternoon we drove around all of East Texas to various machine and tool shops as my grandad looked for the right tools to fix what I had done to that Honda. I honestly don’t remember if we actually got that thing fixed. Sorry Uncle Eddie! What I do remember is that my grandad put aside everything that day; he sacrificed gas and money to help me fix my problem. That was love in action. It is the same sort of love that I hope I can demonstrate with my life.
In John 15:13 Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus calls us to love one another in the same way he loved us. He came to serve and not to be served. He laid down his life for everyone one of us. He saw that the mistakes I had made are of my own accord, but he sacrificed himself to fix my problem.
As Christians we are called to the same service. To love one another in such a way that we would be willing to sacrifice our time, our resources, and even our lives for others. Join us this Sunday at 8:30 AM and 10:45 AM as we continue this discussion during our worship (both in-person and online).
In God’s grip,
Pastor Chuck Church
